Oct 16, 2016 | By Manoella Narain | UC Riverside
It’s most wonderful time of the year and I’m not talking about Christmas folks. That’s right, the second Tuesday of November is coming and that means it’s time for the national election . For us millennials, this means we are having one of our classic first times, if you know what I mean. This also means it’s our time to shine! Research has shown that millennials have officially surpassed the Baby Boomers. What does this mean for us? We now have the power to sway the election in which ever way WE decide. This essentially means we are deciding who the next president of the United States will be; no pressure
Don’t get me wrong: I completely understand that this election has so many up and downs it could qualify to be a roller coaster at Six Flags, with the email scandals and a politician whose main argument to almost every political debate is “I started my company with a small loan of a million dollars” or “global warming is a lie created by China.” As a Philosophy major at UC Riverside, I can I tell you it’s not an argument since it lacks a premise and conclusion, but that’s just me being salty. Back to the main point: it’s our time to take a stand and go out and vote, because this is the election that we have our first opportunity to be a voice, not just in our community but in our nation .
Now, I am completely aware that some have argued that our main two choices for presidential candidacy could be the worst two things that could have happened to our country..Yet when we make our vote this November, we are not just voting for a candidate. We are voting for the policies that they will be putting into place. Remember this November, when you make your vote, you’re not voting just to benefit your life. You are voting to benefit the country and all those whom reside in it. No matter who you decide to vote for this national election, remember being heard is much better than staying silent.
I’m no professor, but here’s my unsolicited opinion on the topic of voter registration.
I’m ashamed.
I’m ashamed that my peers would rather be political on Facebook, instead of being proactive and creating the change that they wish to see in the world. Sometimes, I feel as if my generation genuinely believes that a post on Facebook is a better contribution to society than going out and voting .
As a woman who grew up in both New York and California, I can tell you that our education consists of how our country came to be. We learned how, if we come together to voice concerns, we can make the hard world we live in just a little more bearable. We learned that we can make difference; we learned how to create meaningful change. We were granted meaning.
Don’t believe me? Take a peek at the Constitution. Our founding fathers literally fought to have this sweet freedom we take for granted everyday, and that’s okay; because being free gives us the option to use our freedom. We are the sons and daughters of our founding fathers, and like all parent-child relationships, we have a duty. We have a duty to our country just like our founding fathers. Our founding fathers paved the way to freedom and democracy. They set up the country so we can live and they gave us the ability to speak up and raise our voice to maintain this empire that they built .
I have one thing left to say: let’s go out and make our founding fathers proud. Let’s go out and VOTE.
Manoella Narain is a second year philosophy major at the University of California, Riverside. Monoella is a modern day Elle Woods in training heels. She used to model and work behind the scenes as an assistant director to a fashion show and intends to go to an Ivy League law school after finishing her Bachelor’s degree.
